Jeld-Wen might be forced to divest door skin facility

02.11.2018 −

Jeld-Wen Holding might have to part ways with its Towanda facility in Pennsylvania. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, ordered the compulsory sale of the site on 5 October. With this ruling, the Court wants to help bring about an improvement in the competitive environment in the US door skin business. This ruling is so far preliminary and part of a legal dispute between Jeld-Wen and the door producer Steves & Sons Inc. (Steves). The final ruling has yet to be issued. Jeld-Wen has already announced its intention to challenge the verdict.

These proceedings have been under way since June 2016. The case filed by Steves accuses Jeld-Wen of having a dominant position in the market as a result of its October 2012 acquisition of the door and door skin producer Craftmaster Manufacturing (CMI). Steves claims that Jeld-Wen has used its new position to artificially reduce supply and push prices higher. Jeld-Wen is also accused of not having adhered to the supply agreements reached between Steves and CMI in advance of the CMI deal. For its part, Jeld-Wen pointed out that the anti-trust authority had reviewed the acquisition two separate times and found that it was lawful. In a countersuit, Jeld-Wen accuses its competitor of having misappropriated Jeld-Wen’s trade secrets.